George Clooney has written an article/editorial for The Daily Beast titled “Nothing New To Report”. It is about the current state of Darfur, Sudan, the millions of Sudanese refugees living in Chad, and the inability of any international organization to do anything about Sudan’s genocidal madmen.

Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, has just been formally indicted by the International Criminal Court. Now somebody just has to go and arrest him, something that probably isn‘t going to happen any time soon. Perhaps this is why Clooney’s editorial piece seems like a study in controlled rage.

Last week, I visited a camp in Chad—a camp of about 12,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. I was there three years ago. The violence there is nowhere near the scale that is going on just miles across the border in Sudan.

I think what was most disturbing about the place was how little it had changed. “Normal” is 800 calories a day, sickness, threats of rebel violence, or just crime. When you see their faces, the hope that was there three years ago was all but gone. There are still moments.

…There’s too little hope. Time and time again they’ve seen the convoy of white trucks and even whiter faces pull up, drag out their camera crew and pull aside the most damaged family they can find. We film them as they give honest answers to questions no person should have to answer. “What happened?” “How did you lose that arm?” “Were you raped?” “By how many?” Then, just as they’ve seen time and time again, we jump back in our vehicles and run to the next place. “Not really tragic enough,” is said out loud (probably by me).

…I stopped on the side of the road on the way back to my fenced-in shelter to talk to a waif of a girl who surely was raped. But the answer was “no.” She was just sick and alone and scared. Not great headline grabbing stuff.

We all meet back up that night to assess. “Not much new.” “What’s the hook?” “What makes it fresh?” These are all the best intentions. Finding a new outrage is the only way to catch the world’s attention. You spend your time looking for (and even secretly hoping for) something or someone tragic to report. A good personal story to get the attention away from what dominates our days and nights. The economy. Iraq. Ponzi schemes. The Oscars.

…Nothing new to report—except the shame of what man can do to man. And the secret seems to be that the longer it goes on, the more tolerant all of us become of it.

And yet, in the middle of all of this, we get a tiny window of hope. The International Criminal Court has now brought charges and an arrest warrant to Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan. He is indicted for crimes against humanity. It’s the first time a sitting president has been charged by The Hague. By the time the ICC got to them, Slobodan Milosevic and Charles Taylor were both finished with their reign of terror. Omar al-Bashir is not. Not by a long shot.

How effective these indictments will be is now in the hands of the rest of the world. Will his government turn him over? Not likely. Will the UN go in after him? Doubtful. Even if he’s caught travelling outside the safety of his country would his government be much better with other equally dangerous leaders like “The Sudanese Six”—Harun, Taha, Kushayb, Hilal, Minawi? If I were a refugee I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

So then why is this such a significant moment? Because it tells the 300,000 brutally killed and 2.5 million displaced and raped and maimed that justice must always prevail. That the rest of the world sees their struggle and stands up and demands justice.

This is the moment. And if the UN can’t use it to insist on tougher sanctions, and the United States can’t use it to pressure China, and China can’t feel the eyes of the world looking to them for leadership in the country that they profit so greatly from, then the court and the rule of international law is lost.
Now we have a headline: PRESIDENT OF SUDAN INDICTED.

George has received quite a bit of press from his visit to Sudan and Chad. After he went to the White House to speak with Vice President Joe Biden and President Obama, he pretty much gave a press conference, saying that President Obama had promised Clooney that he would send a special envoy to Sudan. Clooney also talked about it on Larry King Live, in between “ER” and Jennifer Aniston jokes.

I meant what I said before about this Daily Beast piece being a study in controlled rage. Clooney seems very, very angry about the situation in Darfur. Most experts pinpoint the start of this genocide as 2003 – so that makes six years that innocent people have been killed, mutilated, and much more. I’m sure some will disagree, but I like Clooney angry. I like him pissed off. You can tell how much his visits have affected him, and how invested he is.

George Clooney is shown on 8/27/08 at the Venice Film Festival. Credit: WENN

I really love that he has made this his cause. The genocide in Darfur has also become my own cause since getting into International Development and Human Geography.
It’s so sad to see how little coverage there has been over this in the past few years.
Even sadder is that when coverage DOES come out people are able to read it and then continue on with their day as if nothing they read matters.
The fact that the president of Sudan has been indicted is huge. I just really hope that it doesn’t come to nothing.

It’s only huge if the international community acts on it. At the moment, it means nothing but further trauma and distress for already deeply traumatised and distressed people. To date, since the announcement, 10 different crucial aid agencies have been ‘advised to leave’ aka expelled. Life at the top will just carry on as normal but the most vulnerable will bear the immediate and very likely long-term brunt of this.

Bashir doesn’t recognise the ICC, has already more or less told the UN/ICC and the West to eat shit and die. And China is showing no signs whatsoever of being even remotely concerned by the indictment. Even the ICC itself on last night’s news said it’s all down now to how other governments respond – ie. there’s nothing else they themselves can do to move things forward.

I’ve been very vocal about Darfur since I discovered what was happening some years ago and manage to scrape together what I can to send over there.

And I think it’s amazing that he’s speaking out about this and it’s truly sad that he is right about there needing to be something “SENSATIONAL”.

Sensational? Isn’t the brutal slaughtering of man enough cause? Isn’t that enough for us to want to help? Of course not. Because we’re going to get those who talk about how we Americans have our own problems to deal with, why bother with theirs too?

It’s a sad place we live in when man doesn’t give a shit about his fellow man.

Sad but very true…..the media & newspapers are full of articles about the oscars and the dresses and we all love it but most of us turn our heads when it comes to Darfur.
Everybody freaks out when a pop singer get’s assaulted by her boyfriend(not that it is a good thing by the way)but turn their heads when thousands of girls & women get multiple raped/mutilated on the other side of the world…..i don’t think that GC can fix this alone but at least he uses his celebstatus to bring the story to us and maybe one day we can all wake-up but it’s going to take a long time i’m afraid….just look at the comments on this story and compare them to the ones about Brangelina en Riri/Breezy!!!
Most of the readers maybe didn’t click on to read this story probably….SAD
BIG RESPECT for Mister Clooney…and now i going to look for a(small)way to do my part….